Chapter 12

GIANNA

"Where's that doll your grandmother sent you for your birthday?" I looked around from my place on the floor where I'd been playing with my new toys alone for the last half hour. Daddy had just left to go to work after promising to bring me back something special.

I held my breath as I looked over and up at the woman standing in the doorway. Somehow I knew that the smile that she'd worn while my daddy was here would be long gone. It had taken my little brain forever to notice that it always happens that way. When daddy is here, she smiles and laughs with me, giving me the same special attention she gives to her own little girl who's the same age as I. But when daddy's not around, she's mean and hurts.

My mouth became dry with dread, and there was that funny feeling in my tummy once again. I felt tears already prickling my eyes because I knew what was coming. No doubt Victoria will get my doll just like she'd got everything else of mine. I didn't use to mind before, back whe